


bruises

by sentichefuoripiove



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Tumblr Prompt, around 15x14, but let's be real all my fics are, mer and andrew are bad at secret dating, not canon, this is not a 'alex is oblivious fic'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 04:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19690897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentichefuoripiove/pseuds/sentichefuoripiove
Summary: “So” Meredith says, her unexpected chipper tone pulling him out of his shame spiral, “I have something for you.” Her statement sparks his curiosity enough that he snaps his head back up: he is met by her sparkling eyes, a wicked smile and a tube of what looks like concealer being waved in front of his face.Poor Andrew can't catch a break, Meredith offers some help.





	bruises

**Author's Note:**

> anon asked: _Fic Request: Andrew comes into the hospital with a hickey, no one realizes until one of Mer's patients points it out during rounds. Everyone is wondering who did it (It was thinking it should be set around 15x14, no one really knows about them quite yet). Mer is freaking out, in a comedic way, tries to put foundation on it. Jo tries to tell Alex its Mer but he still not realizing they are a thing. Love your writing!_

His girlfriend is back at the hospital. 

And yes, by _his girlfriend_ he means Flor, the little girl they treated all those months back. This is the way the Chief chose to inform him he’d be on his service today: _your girlfriend’s back, you think you’ll scrub in this time?_ After a couple of confused seconds, he enthusiastically accepted: he was already familiar with the case, he liked the patient and he was happy to help if he could. 

It doesn’t take long to realize that Flor still timidly looks at him the way she did last fall, and as he goes in and out of her room, checking pre-op and running labs, Andrew toes the line between crushing her little heart and getting her hopes up very carefully. All the nurses on the floor are mocking him for it, and he is laughing, trying to defend himself, when the Chief and Mered- _no, Dr Grey,_ approach him, gesturing for him to follow them into Flor’s room. Alex goes in first, and over the sound of overlapping greetings he almost misses Meredith whispering in his direction “So, your girlfriend’s finally back, huh?”

So no, by _his girlfriend_ he does not mean Meredith Grey, who has gone to stand beside the girl’s bed before he could even turn his head in her direction. She is now explaining to Flor why she needs surgery again, and he is left standing at the door, probably with a really stupid dumbstruck expression on his face.

To be totally honest, he is hitching to call her his girlfriend already (Meredith that is, of course), but rationally he understands that three weeks is way too short of a timeframe to start making these kinds of requests. Even teenagers know better than to call each other boyfriend and girlfriend after just three weeks of dating, and they are stone cold adults, he should not be this anxious to put a name to this. 

At the same time, though, it’s been three weeks and there have been just three nights that they have spent apart, and all of those three nights still included a very long phone call or texting session. They have been on dates: very informal coffee dates, proper ones in nice restaurants, takeout at his place… plus a couple of encounters he remembers fondly and with a slight blush.

“So, it is possible that the operation could take just as long as the last one. It’s less invasive though, so the recovery time should be shorter, and...” Alex’s explanation is interrupted by a loud, short burst of laugher and everyone, including Meredith and Andrew, whip their heads in the direction of the sudden sound. 

Flor’s teenage sister, Marina, is standing in a corner at the back of the room, and instead of being preoccupied with her phone as always, she is staring at Andrew, eyebrows shot up in surprise, hand covering her mouth. 

“Marina!” the girl’s mother scolds her, offers an apologetic look in Alex’s direction before turning back to her daughter. “What is it?”

“Nothing” the girl all but snorts, another fit of giggles fighting to make its way to the surface. “It’s just that…” she doesn’t even finish her sentence before she starts laughing uncontrollably again. Everyone looks at each other, confused, and for a second they almost don’t notice the way Marina’s eyes are trained on a spot on Andrew’s shoulder, until she raises her hand to point at him. 

He quickly looks down to examine his scrubs for stains, and when he looks up again he finds Alex staring down at him, his face red.

“Deluca.”

“Yes, Chief?”

“You do know this is a hospital, right?”

“I- what?” confused, Andrew turns in Meredith’s direction, hoping she’ll tell him what the hell is going on. As soon as he does, though, her eyes widen and she too goes red in the face with embarassement. 

“Deluca” she says, raising her hand and gesturing at her own neck “you have something here, did you- huh… get bruised or something?”

“Yeah, right, ‘cause that’s a bruise” Marina pipes up from the corner, and the room goes silent as Andrew finally manages to put two and two together.

“Oh” he lets out quietly, and as if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, this is the moment he chooses to meet Flor’s eyes. They are swelling with tears, and she is biting on her quivering lip.

_Damn it._

He was really hoping she wouldn’t understand what the ‘bruise’ is, but obviously having an older sister means you learn what hickeys look like way earlier than you should.

“I- erm… I am going to have it checked out, I hadn’t realised I hurt myself. Excuse me” he manages to mutter, and leaves the room as fast as his legs let him.

Not fast enough to not catch the sound of Flor’s crying, her mother already at her bedside fussing over her.

***

“Hey, are you alright in here?”

He is sitting on the floor, head resting on his knees. He lifts his head and looks up at the voice coming from the door. He doesn’t need to, not really, would recognize her voice anywhere. Her tone though, breathy and calm, reassuring and a bit concerned, reminds him instantly of why he’s been hiding in the restroom. 

He is an adult man, a doctor, hiding out at work. Because he’s got a _hickey._

“Is Flor ok?” he groans, dropping his head back again, his voice muffled in the small space between his chest and his legs. God, he is the worst doctor ever. 

“She is fine Andrew. She’s 10 years old, she’ll be fine” she tells him, chuckling lightly when the only response she gets is another, even more pained groan. 

He can hear her heels ticking on the linoleum as she approaches, and doesn’t resist at her attempt to drag him up. 

Now he is standing in front of her, shoulders sagging, still trying to bow his head so that he doesn’t have to meet her eyes. He can’t believe he put both of them in that situation: he made a fool of himself in front of a patient’s family, the Chief, the woman he likes, and a very sweet little girl that didn’t deserve any of that. 

“So” Meredith says, her unexpected chipper tone pulling him out of his shame spiral, “I have something for you.” Her statement sparks his curiosity enough that he snaps his head back up: he is met by her sparkling eyes, a wicked smile and a tube of what looks like concealer being waved in front of his face. 

He snorts out a laugh, playfully swats her hand away as she too breaks down laughing. “Come on, you can’t go around the hospital all day looking like this” she reasons when the giggles quiet down. “Here, let me help.”

She takes his hand and leads him to the nearest sink, gestures for him to lean against it. He reaches out for her hips, is pleased when he tries to pull her in to stand between her legs and she doesn’t put up any resistance, just takes the cap out of the tube and begins to study his neck, brow furrowed in concentration. 

Andrew, in turn, takes the opportunity to study her. He thought that dating her would mean he wouldn’t have to hide his interest anymore, that he could be unabashedly, shamelessly obvious in the way he got to look at her. But of course, he hadn’t considered the fact that she would want to keep things quiet for a while, at least at the hospital.

Which, clearly, spectacularly failed.

“You know what?” he begins, breaking the silence, “This is actually not my fault. _Someone_ should have known this was gonna happen and _behave herself._ ”

“Are you saying you didn’t like what I did last night?” she counters, a small grin on her lips, eyes still concentrated on the task at hand.

“I did not say that” he is quick to answer, his hands squeezing her hips lightly trying to draw her even closer, “but maybe if this has to stay a secret we should be more careful.”

“Ok, maybe you’re right. But at least we don’t have to worry about it today anymore. I’m done” she announces, takes a step back to admire her work, makes a big show out of putting the cap back on the tube.

Andrew turns around to look at the mirror, the mark on his neck completely gone. Meredith comes to stand behind him, and their eyes met through the mirror: she is smiling at him, warm and soft, and it makes him wish they weren’t at the hospital right now, an entire day of work still ahead of them before they can leave together.

“Meredith…”

“Don’t” she stops him, her hand finding his wrist, “or we will never leave this restroom” she says with a grin, and stands on her toes to kiss him quickly on the nape of his neck, inches away from the spot she just covered. “I’ll talk to you later.”

As they open the door, they find Alex waiting for them, arms crossed on his chest and an unreadable expression on his face.

“Deluca, what is wrong with you dude?”

Andrew feels his face grow hotter, he bows his head and whispers to his feet “I’m sorry Chief, I didn’t see it this morning.”

“Well, go get your eyes checked, you could see that thing from space.” Alex scoffs. “Alright, I’ll see you in the OR. Mer, I need to show you Flor’s scans, are you free now?”

“Yes, sure, let’s go” Andrew hears her say, and lifts his head to see the two attending as they walk down the hallway together. The ward is uncharacteristically quiet, and even as they leave he can still make out Alex’s voice.

“I swear to God, first Kim and now him. Were we ever this obvious?”

“Oh come on, you’re kidding, right? I am pretty sure we were just as terrible.” Andrew hears Meredith answer, and he snorts an incredulous laugh as he pulls his phone out of his coat pocket.

_You ‘were’ terrible? Past tense?_

_Oh, shut up. You should be happy, it could have been much worse_

_How, exactly?_

_It could have been Bailey_

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! I'm not really sure how I feel about this. The prompt was GREAT and I like the idea I had, but I'm not that proud of the writing. But I am happy I finally managed to get it out.
> 
> Hope you like it, leave a comment if you want!


End file.
